Saturday, October 7, 2017

Smith & Hall's English-Latin Dictionary

https://www.latinitium.com/smithhall

From the site:

The English-Latin dictionary of Smith & Hall, originally published in 1871 under the title A Copious and Critical English-Latin Dictionary, is widely regarded as the best and most extensive lexicon for translating from English into Latin ever written. Thanks to the effort of Johan Winge, it is now, for the first time, available online in a fully digitized and searchable form, exlusively here on Latinitium!
One feature of this digital edition that we hope that our readers will particularly enjoy is the ability to click on any Latin word and be redirected to the corresponding article in Lewis & Short. Similarly, most of the references are linked to the original text in the Perseus Digital Library.

What primarily sets this dictionary apart from other English dictionaries of the same magnitude (notably A Copious and Critical English-Latin Lexicon by Riddle & Arnold, 1864) is the fact that Smith & Hall spent considerable effort on going back to the classical texts and reevaluating the meaning of the Latin words and phrases in their original context. The proposed Latin translations are supported by references to the sources, and commonly illustrated with quotations, both in English translation and in the original Latin.

A more in-depth account of the labour that was spent by the authors on this monumental work can be read in the original preface. There they also give an overview of the structure of the dictionary articles. See also the list of abbreviations of names of authors and their works and a separate list of general abbreviations.

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